Category: American Politics

The Authoritarian threat to Democracy: a discussion with Rudolf J. Siebert

On February 1st, 2025, I had the opportunity to sit down with Dr. Rudolf J. Siebert, critical theorist of religion and society, and Professor Emeritus at Western Michigan University, to discuss the ongoing threat to democracy posed by right-wing authoritarian movements and figures. Dr. Siebert is not optimistic, seeing that – at least in America – we’ve already moved into an authoritarian stage of development, and that “anocracy,” the combination of democracy and authoritarianism, is not possible. This discourse was sponsored by the Institute for Critical Social Theory and Ekpyrosis Press.

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The Fromm Connection: A Discourse

On December 7th, 2024, I had the wonderful opportunity to join Rudy Leal McCormack and Maior Levitin on “The Fromm Connection,” wherein we discussed a variety of topics as they related to my recent publication, “Can Religion be Rescued in the 21st Century: On Erich Fromm’s Religious Humanism in an Age of Authoritarian Populism” (Journal of Psychosocial Studies). I deeply appreciate their invitation to discuss Erich Fromm and his continual relevance to today’s society.

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OUT NOW: The Many Faces of Populism: Perspectives from Critical Theory and Beyond

I’m pleased to announce the new edited volume, The Many Faces of Populism: Perspectives from Critical Theory and Beyond, which I co-edited with Mlado Ivanovic and Jeremiah Morelock, will be released by Brill this coming December.

Contributors include: Dustin J. Byrd, Emília Barna and Ágnes Patakfalvi-Czirják, Ronald Beiner, Samir Gandesha, Yonathan Listik, Grigoris Markou, Jeremiah Morelock and Felipe Ziotti Narita, Maria Cristina Dancham Simões and Carlos Antonio Giovinazzo Júnior, and Hassan Zaheer.

Order it directly through Brill, The Many Faces of Populism, or find it on Amazon.

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Erich Fromm and the Problem of Oikophobia

On September 15, 2024, I had the wonderful opportunity to present my work at the inaugural Erich Fromm Society of North America conference at Gonzaga University. My presentation was on the problem of “oikophobia,” or fear/hatred of all things our own). Oikophobia entails the pathological disavowal of all things Western, including the civilization, culture, history, religion, philosophy, etc. It has plagued a portion of the political Left, especially in academia. I argue that for the Left to abandon the Western inheritance is to leave it in the hands of the far-right, who will functionalize it as a tool of repression against all things “non-Western” residing in the West. What is needed is a dialectical approach to the Western inheritance, not an abstract negation. A video of my presentation can be found on the Dustin J. Byrd Audio-Visual Archive on YouTube.

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